by Melissa Raissa

Created on: December 24, 2009

A cube is a solid, three-dimensional shape composed of square faces. A few examples of cube-shaped objects are playing dice, sugar or ice cubes and much more. A cube has at least three visible faces with one exact square face while the other faces are skewed for a 3D effect. You can easily draw cube shapes using any graphics software such as GIMP which is free to download at their site.      

At the menu bar, click FILE->New and choose a canvas size that you need. Once you have your white canvas, you can add a grid to help you draw a more regular-shaped cube by clicking VIEW->Show Grid. You can also check the Snap To Grid option so that your drawing will follow the grid marks thus creating straight edges for the square faces of your cube.

Using the Paths Tool, you can now manually draw your first square face simply by clicking on four corresponding points for your square shape. Close the path by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on the first point that you created. You can adjust your square by clicking one point and dragging it before releasing the mouse button.

Make sure that the square has equal measurements throughout its four sides. You can now fill the cube with color by clicking SELECT->From Path then click EDIT->Fill with FG Color using a different color for each face of your cube. This is helpful later on if you want to add a different gradient for surface in order to have lighting and shadow effects to further enhance your solid cube shape.

Create the other faces using the Paths Tool, but this time, we will be drawing a slanted square or rhombus shape to achieve a three-dimensional look for our cube. The shapes need not have exactly equal sides but make sure they have almost the same width so that it looks more like a cube instead of a box. Fill the other shapes with different colors to differentiate each cube face or surface.

Once you have your cube shape, it's time to add the gradient surface. We will be using simple flare gradients which have one color that fades into white. You can select which face you want to work using the Fuzzy Select Tool at the Toolbox dialog and clicking on one of the surface to highlight it. Click the Blend Tool icon at the Toolbox dialog and select a simple gradient at the Gradient settings.

To add your gradient color, click on the outer side of your shape and drag the cursor across the highlighted surface. Only that surface will be applied with the gradient color. Take note of the direction your Blend Tool since you will need to use that same direction for your other surfaces. If your color fades into the right side, make sure the other surfaces fade to white on that same side as well.

You can also draw your first square using the Rectangle Select Tool. Just click and drag the cursor until you have you're square shape then release the mouse button to finalize your selection. Fill the square with color by clicking EDIT->Fill with BG Color. However, for the other faces, you will need to create a parallelogram shape instead of a square making sure it connects seamlessly with your first square.

To create a rhombus shape using the Rectangle Select Tool, simply draw any rectangle shape and adjust that rectangle using the Perspective Tool at the Toolbox Dialog. Click on the rectangle and drag the four points until you've achieved you're rhombus shape. Make sure that the connecting sides of your rhombus has equal measurements with the other faces so that it will attach seamlessly.

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